from bunny boilers to dumbledore and various gendery things in between

new day, new look. i was getting tired of the old colour scheme. dunno if the template will stay but anyways,

here's a corral of lost'n'found snippets from the last 24 hours...

::

elizabeth wortzle ranted on a new film, and traces a brief history of the "crazed woman" archetype in cinema.
it brought to mind a fairly detailed and disturbing account of the violently misogynist changes that were made to Fatal Attraction (in response to test screenings) in Backlash by Susan Faludi.

::

i'm finding the work of charlie white, the girl studies (2008) curious and a little unsettling. andrew womack has an interesting take on the provocation. i find the, "teens and transgender comparative study" interesting and quite beautiful on initial viewing, but i'm not sure how to read the rest of his work in this project. i find the "ammerican minor film stills" uncomfortable. which is probably the point.

::

more gender related stuff, of a more troubling kind, and closer to home: i received an email from a friend regarding an upcoming conference exploring (read: encouraging) faith based reparative therapy for those "suffering" SSA. said friend asked, what can be done?
my guess is: turn up, listen, ask pertinent questions, peacefully protest... i note they do welcome those who disagree with them to attend and listen, as long as they don't disrupt proceedings.

for details of the event, see the hyperlink to a pdf in the line,

Jeffrey Satinover, 2004, 10th Edition. Dr Satinover to visit Northern Ireland June 19 and 20 2009

on this page

seems to me these folks are trying to keep the event pretty quiet by not having the ad more visible on their site.

i'm conscious looking at the related sites for this event what a definitive language shift has taken place here in less than a year - out of the theological and into the psychological. although that reflecting a wider international shift, i can't help but feel that from an NI perspective this is a rather strategic response to the iris robinson debacle of last summer.
in 2009 it seems it's not okay to call LGBTQ persons an abomination, but it is okay to talk about compassionately sharing their struggle with them while inferring that their struggle is like the struggle against nazi-ism. <-- i don't know how else to interpret that *bizarre* juxtaposition on that FAQ page.

i found it rather curious that under the heading, Manhood for Today, on one the conference hosts' site, was the following line,

Laocoon was a seer in Greek mythology who is famed for trying to persuade the Trojans not to take the famous wooden horse into the city and for doing so his sons are killed, but not before he tries to save them. He did what was right and did not shy away from the consequences; he engaged in the fight. We need to get active in the lives of our young people.
I love that line in Harry Potter when Dumbledore is speaking to him and says, “the time is coming Harry, when people will have to decide between doing what is right and what is easy...
This statue [of Lacoon] represents for me a man engaging in the struggle for the life of his sons (children). For me this is the struggle that we as men all should be involved in for all our children (boys and girls).

i'm pretty sure j.k.rowling herself said dumbledore was gay. huh.

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on a more positive note,

i hadn't realised Changing Attitude Ireland had changed their website. i encourage folks to walk with them at the 2009 Belfast Pride parade on Saturday 1st August. i was very glad i joined their ranks for the 08 parade and stood alongside church reps who hold no truck with the kind of stuff outlined above...




must get on with some dull necessities and wave my parentals goodbye, who are armed with gifts and bound for Ontario to visit the fam...

hey ho

LB